LNG benefits await legal clearance: Official

Business

THE landowners from the plant site area of the Papua New Guinea LNG project will get their benefits pending legal clearance from the State Solicitor’s office, an official says.
Department of Petroleum and Energy acting secretary Kepsey Puiye, pictured told The National this yesterday when he was asked how soon the landowners should wait before they get their benefits.
“For the plant site landowners it’s done, accounts are open, they are just ready to get their benefits now.
“So long as we get the legal clearance from the Sate Solicitor’s office,” Puiye said.
However, he said the pipeline landowners needed to have their bank accounts established.
“For the pipeline landowners, we need to establish their bank accounts and actually go through the same process of electing the directors of the gas resource pipeline company,” he said.
“They are almost ready but will be undertaken after the elections.
“We have issues in Hides PDL 1, Hides PDL 7, Angore PDL 8 and Juha PDL 9.
“Much of the work have been done but there are still areas of disputes. We need to actually source some funding from the Government. As soon as I was appointed, I’ve actually conducted a two-day workshop at the Ela Beach Hotel in Port Moresby.
“We brought in relevant state agencies including Justice Ambeng Kandakasi.
“We went through the process of putting a work programme and did an NEC submission to the Minister (for Petroleum and Energy). And that is basically to identify landowners at the upstream of the project. Minister’s advice to me was that election is around the corner, we put the exercise on hold till after the election.”